* The team has changed how it scouts players in Japan, particularly pitchers. Scouts have been changed and more “sets of eyes” have been added to the process.

* Cashman said he believes Mike Mussina is leaning toward retirement.

* Cashman wants more players to take the attitude of Mussina, Brian Bruney and Johnny Damon, who turned sub-par 2007 seasons into good 2008 seasons. “We need more of that,” he said.

* There will be meetings with the pro scouts in the Bronx later this month then full organizational meetings in Tampa around Oct. 15. That’s when they’ll decide what players will be pursued. But obviously the market will be fluid.

* There is no new “board of advisors.” Nice try, Hank.

* Cashman said there were “growing pains” in his relationship with the Steinbrenner brothers. He didn’t go into details, but obviously he means Hank talking so much and undermining his authority regarding baseball matters. Hal Steinbrenner appears to have been able to get his brother under control to some degree.

The new sheriff in town is clearly Hal.

* The biggest thing that came out of it, I thought, was how combative Cashman was.

â€œFor a long time, weâ€™ve been old and everybody knows it, right?â€ Cashman said. â€œFor a long time people have pointed it out. So now when you start to fix it, people are â€˜Oh my God, you missed the playoffs.â€™ Off with his head, right? Thatâ€™s fair, thatâ€™s fine, thatâ€™s part of this town. I accept it. Iâ€™m not running from it.

“I care about my name and I care about how Iâ€™m perceived and I care about this franchise. I need everybody that works for me who feels the same way to pull in the same direction. If I wanted something easy, I could do a hell of a lot of other things than run the Yankees.â€

He’s right about that. I know some people disagree with me, but I think Cash is the right man for the job. When I covered college basketball, coaches used to say they wanted to build a program, not just one team. That’s what the Yankees need to do. They need think about being good for 10 years, not one.